Ukraine - About the Country

Україна (Ukraïna, Ukraine) is a country in Eastern Europe, the second-largest European country after Russia. The local language is Ukrainian, but Russian is also widely spoken, both in the Russian minority, and as a second language by the Ukrainians, a result of 60 years Soviet rule. Following the Russian Revolution in 1917, the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic was formed. But in 1922 the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was formed, which became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union. The German and Romanian occupation during World War II in Ukraine was devastating. he borders were drawn new by World War II, or better by Stalin. The border was extended westwards in formerly Polish areas in 1939, in 1940 the part of Romanian between Moldova and the Black Sea was added. 1945 Hungarian Trancarpathia was added, the Carpathian mountain ridge became the new border. And finally Stalin gave the Crimea, which was Russian, to Ukraine, not a gift, just an organisational restructuring.

The country became independent in 1991 as the Soviet Union dissolved, and declared itself neutral. The country had numerous massive problems, the hyperinflation after independence, oligarchs as a result of privatisation, the 2008 global financial crisis, the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014, and recently the Russian invasion in 2022. The foreign tourism grew with the stabilization of the country in the late 90s, was interrupted by the Crimea crisis, and finally ended with the current war.

Ukraine has numerous extraordinary caves, but the country and the caves are still little known in the western world. A few show caves exist, but most of the caves are closed to the public. Ukraine has one cave superlative. Not long ago Optymistychna was the second-longest cave of the world, but currently its on rank 6 [2023]. The gypsum karst of Ukraine in Ternopil Oblast is world-famous among cavers and has several huge cave systems.

Ukraine is subdivided into 24 oblasts, one autonomous republic, and two cities with special status.